Relatives of the passengers and crew on board the ill-fated Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 are facing an agonising wait as a recovery operation gets under way.

Sixty-two people were on board the passenger plane which plunged into the sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta on Saturday.

There appears to be no hope of finding survivors.

Although no-one on board has been formally identified, information is emerging from family and friends.

BBC Indonesia’s Dwiki Marta and Widianingsih have helped to collate the following accounts.

Pilot Captain Afwan

“We’re in grief, still praying for the best,” said Ferza Mahardhika, whose uncle was the pilot of the Sriwijaya SJ182 flight.

Captain Afwan, 54, left home quickly on the day of the doomed flight, his nephew told BBC Indonesia, complaining that “his shirt hadn’t been ironed, when usually he is really neat”.

The captain apologised to his three children for having to leave them again.

Captain Afwan, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, started his flying career in the air force before becoming a commercial pilot in 1987.

His family and colleagues say he was devoted Muslim, eager to help people in his neighbourhood in the West Java town of Bogor, and at work.

His profile picture on social media is a cartoon of Superman praying, with the words “it doesn’t matter how high you fly, you will never reach heaven if you don’t pray”.

“He was a very good man. He often gave advice, wise advice. He was a prominent figure in his neighbourhood and was well-known for his kindness,” said Ferza Mahardhika.

“I’m devastated and can’t believe that this is happening. Please pray for uncle and our family,” he added.

Angga Fernanda Afrion

Afrida told BBC Indonesia she was still holding out hope that her 29-year-old son Angga Fernanda Afrion, who was on the flight, might still be alive.

“Family members who are in Jakarta are searching for information. I want to go, too, but with the pandemic it’s difficult to travel,” said Afrida, who lives in West Sumatra.

Just a week ago Angga – a seaman – had become a father, his wife giving birth to their first child, a boy named Alvano Faeyza Alingga. His mother said that becoming a father had motived him to work harder to provide the best for his son.

Angga worked on large cargo boats. His mother says he called her late on Friday saying that he had to fly to Pontianak at the last minute because “his ship was damaged and his boss had told him he needed to come”.

He often had to travel for work across the Indonesian archipelago but preferred to travel by boat, rarely flying.

Afrida said her son was “a strong-willed child but was very obedient. He was a kind polite person and could get on well with anyone.”

“If he is gone what I want is to be able to bring him home and bury him properly,” she said quietly, while holding a framed photo of Angga in his uniform.

Ihsan Adhlan Hakim and Putri Wahyuni

Also on board were newly married couple Ihsan Adhlan Hakim and Putri Wahyuni. Ihsan’s younger brother, Arwin Amru Hakim, told news website Kompas that his brother had called from Soekarno Hatta Airport to let the family know their flight had been delayed, due to bad weather.

The couple were travelling to Kalimantan to hold a wedding party for Ihsan’s extended family who live in Pontianak.

“The plan was that next Saturday the event would take place,” said Arwin. But now, he says, the family are praying together.

Indah Halima Putri and Muhammad Rizky Wahyudi with their baby

Yusrilanita fainted when told the news about the Sriwijaya Air SJ182 aircraft that was carrying her daughter Indah Halima Putri, son-in-law Muhammad Rizky Wahyudi and their baby.

Indah had returned to her family home in Java to give birth, and was now going home with her husband to their home in Pontianak.

Before the plane took off, according to local media, Indah send a photo of the plane’s wing via a WhatsApp message saying there was heavy rain and asking for the family’s prayers.

Meanwhile, authorities have set up a special centre at Pontianak Supadio Airport in Indonesia to take DNA samples from close family of those on board to help with identification.

“We have deployed 51 personnel to be on standby at the post to work with personnel from the Disaster Victim Identification team to collect the samples,” said Assistant Senior Commissioner of Police Yani Permana.

The process is expected to take at least two more days as some families have to travel to reach the centre.

Black boxes of a passenger plane which crashed in the sea soon after take-off from Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday have been located, officials say.

A small flotilla of ships has been searching the site and navy divers are expected to be able to retrieve the two flight recorders, they add.

Aircraft parts and human remains have been found.

The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 was carrying 62 people when it vanished from radar on its journey to Borneo.

“We have located the position of the black boxes, both of them,” said Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesia’s transport safety committee.

“Divers will start looking for them now and hopefully it won’t be long before we get them.”

Investigators are analysing items which they believe to be a wheel and part of the plane’s fuselage.

BBC South-East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says the sea in this part of Indonesia is relatively shallow and the bad weather which had been hampering rescue operations has now improved, making it more likely significant parts can be recovered.

However, the search appears to offer no hope of finding any survivors.

A spokesman for the Jakarta police, Yusri Yunus, said two bags had been received from the search and rescue agency.

“The first bag contained passengers’ properties, another bag contained body parts,” he told reporters, adding: “We are still identifying these findings.”

Police are asking families of the victims to provide DNA samples and dental records to help identify the remains.

Search and rescue efforts have been going on since early Sunday. Four planes were also deployed to help with the search.

It will continue into Sunday night but only with boats using sonar scans.

A Boeing 737 passenger plane carrying 62 people is believed to have crashed into the sea shortly after take-off from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.

The Sriwijaya Air disappeared from radars four minutes into its journey to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province.

It is thought to have dropped more than 3,000m (10,000ft) in less than a minute, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.

Witnesses said they had seen and heard at least one explosion.

Fisherman Solihin, who goes by one name, explained that he had witnessed a crash and his captain decided to return to land.

“The plane fell like lightning into the sea and exploded in the water,” he said.

“It was pretty close to us, the shards of a kind of plywood almost hit my ship.”

A number of residents of an island near where the plane disappeared reported that they had found objects they thought were from the plane.

The transport ministry said search and rescue efforts were under way.

The Indonesian navy has been deployed to look for the aircraft, reports say. Navy official Abdul Rasyid told Reuters news agency it had determined the plane’s coordinates and ships had been deployed to the location.

The aircraft is not a 737 Max, the Boeing model that was grounded from March 2019 until last December following two deadly crashes.

South Africa’s Olympic long jump silver medallist Luvo Manyonga has been provisionally suspended for anti-doping whereabouts failures.

The 30-year-old, who battled drug addiction before winning silver at Rio 2016, was charged by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Friday.

The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are scheduled to start on 23 July 2021.

Manyonga is among the favourites to win gold in Tokyo after winning the 2017 World and 2018 Commonwealth titles.

In 2012, Manyonga was banned from athletics for 18 months after testing positive for crystal meth.

The AIU says athletes must provide “accurate and up-to-date” details about their whereabouts as a way to “ensure compliance to anti-doping rules”.

A whereabouts failure against an athlete will be recorded if they fail to submit their whereabouts by the required deadline, have not provided updated or sufficient details to administrators, or are not available for testing in an agreed 60-minute time slot.

Under World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures within 12 months is an anti-doping rule violation.

A ban up to two years could be imposed for the offence.

In May last year, Manyonga was fined for public drinking and contravening South Africa’s strict lockdown restrictions

Twenty-three soldiers accused of being behind the assassination of former president of Democratic Republic of Congo have been released after spending nearly two decades behind bars.

Laurent Kabila was shot dead by a bodyguard in 2001. A military trial that followed jailed dozens of soldiers, including Col Eddy Kapend, his personal aide.

Human Rights groups criticised the trial. Some in DR Congo believe the soldiers were used as scapegoats.

There has been much speculation about who gave the orders for Kabila’s assassination, including suggestions that foreign powers were involved, as it came at a time when several neighbouring countries were involved in the conflict in DR Congo.

The soldiers’ release follows pardons issued by President Félix Tshisekedi who took over from Joseph Kabila, the son of the late president, two years ago.

Mr Kabila repeatedly resisted calls to pardon the prisoners – 11 of whom died whilst in custody.

The release comes amid a power struggle between President Tshisekedi and his predecessor, who continues to wield considerable influence in the country.

Mr Tshisekedi ended his coalition with Mr Kabila’s party – which holds a majority in parliament – following years of tension.

The president is currently seeking new coalition partners that would give him a majority in parliament

Thousands of refugees and migrants urgently need proper shelter in Bosnia-Herzegovina after weeks outdoors in freezing cold, the UN has warned.

Some 2,500 people are in unheated tents or sleeping rough near the northern town of Bihac. A UN official says some are now being moved to heated tents.

Local authorities have refused to reopen a nearby reception centre.

Instead hundreds have been forced to return to a temporary camp that was ravaged by fire last month.

Peter Van der Auweraert of the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed photos of the basic tents erected at the Lipa camp by the Bosnian army a few days ago.

The camp was set up hastily in the summer when the coronavirus pandemic forced crisis measures including border closures.

But aid agencies pulled out of the camp in December, saying it was unsustainable without water and electricity.

Some residents forced to leave the facility looted equipment and set fire to tents, police said.

However, about 900 migrants had to go back there, after local officials refused to let them move to the empty reception centre in Bihac. Another 1,500 are struggling in primitive conditions elsewhere near the town.

The migrants are from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and got stuck in Bosnia while trying to reach Croatia, an EU member state seen as a gateway to the EU.

Some of the migrants have refused to use the tents in Lipa because they lack heating and sanitation. Some also went on hunger strike, angry at the lack of amenities. But on Tuesday many did receive Red Cross food parcels.

“We want people in proper reception centres where they have access to services, like the 6,000 other people in Bosnia,” Mr Van der Auweraert, the IOM’s head in Bosnia-Herzegovina, told the BBC’s Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey at Lipa.

The IOM says about 8,500 non-EU migrants are living in Bosnia, still hoping to get to northern Europe.

No casualties were recorded at the scene of incident, according to LASEMA.

An accident involving a fuel tanker has resulted in a massive fire outbreak in Lagos State.

The tanker, loaded with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), exploded at Toyota Bus Stop along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway on Thursday, January 7, 2021.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said the tanker exploded after it disconnected from its turntable head due to reckless driving.

“The impact of the collision with the ground resulted in the spark and subsequent explosion,” the agency said.

US intelligence agencies have said they believe Russia was behind the “serious” cyber compromise revealed in December.

President Trump had previously suggested China might have been behind the hack, although other members of his administration had pointed the finger at Moscow.

In a joint statement, the intelligence bodies say they currently believe fewer than 10 US government agencies saw their data compromised, although other organisations outside of government were also affected.

They say work is still going on to understand the scope of the incident, which appears to have been aimed at gathering intelligence and which they say is “ongoing” a month after details first emerged.

The update on the investigation came in a statement from a task force called the Cyber Unified Coordination Group which was set up to deal with the incident. It comprises intelligence and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and NSA.

The group said it was still working to understand the scope of what had taken place.

Soon after the incident was revealed, President Trump raised the possibility that China might be responsible, but members of his own administration including the secretary of state and attorney general pointed the finger at Moscow.

The latest statement shows the assessment of US intelligence agencies is that Russia was behind it, although it does not go so far as accusing the Russian state itself, saying only that the actor was “likely Russian in origin”. Moscow has denied playing any part.

President-elect Joe Biden has previously said it was important to take “meaningful steps” to hold those responsible to account. It is not yet clear, though, what that might involve. While some US politicians suggested the breach might even be compared to an “act of war”, most cyber-experts disputed this and the US intelligence community has now played down suggestions that it could have had destructive impact.

“At this time, we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence-gathering effort,” the latest statement says. This is significant since it suggests no evidence has been found that this was preparatory activity for a more destructive cyber-attack which might switch off systems. This may limit the US response since espionage operations do not breach the cyber norms the US itself promotes (largely because it too carries out such intelligence-gathering operations against other nations